“Serenity” takes up where TV series “Firefly” left off

There’s a moment on the extras where “Serenity” creator Joss Whedon says that “Serenity” is unique because it was a canceled science fiction TV show (“Firefly”) that came back to life as a movie. No other science fiction series has done that.

Uh, Joss? Sorry to disillusion you, but I can think of a few. They may have taken longer to appear than yours, but they do exist.

The original series “Star Trek” is the kingpin, with seven films (“The Motion Picture” through “Generations”) starring the members of that original cast. Others off the top of my head, although they haven’t had quite the longevity: “Lost in Space,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The X-Files,” “Superman,” “Batman.” And there are plenty of sitcoms and dramas that have made the jump to movies. Even some “Saturday Night Live” skits have become full-length films.

My apologies to the passionate fans of Whedon’s creations, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Angel,” and the original basis for the film “Serenity,” the short-lived series “Firefly.” I have to say that after listening to Whedon’s introduction to the film and commentary, he does sound extremely full of himself.

That said, I quite enjoyed “Serenity” when I saw it in the theater. It had a “Buckaroo Banzai” quality about it, another quirky science fiction film that assumed that intelligent audiences could wrap an oddball sense of humor around fairly complex plots and subplots.

The story, for the unfamiliar, is that of the spacefaring truck Serenity, captained by the melancholy Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillon). He was a war hero on the losing side; now he’s a businessman and sometimes thief in the mode of Han Solo, only not as swashbuckling.

He’s got a crew of lovable malcontents whom he treats gruffly, but looks out for carefully. And he’s got a woman on board, River Tam (Summer Glau), who was mentally conditioned by the Alliance (the winning side of the war) to be a perfect weapon. Trouble is, no one is sure what she was designed to be a weapon for.

The crew of the Serenity finds themselves chased by The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor); a silky-voiced, thoughtful assassin whose unquestioning belief in his superiors’ orders makes him a very scary antagonist. The Operative’s methods are both ruthless and noble at the same time.

The extras on the disc include several deleted scenes, most of which could have easily been reinserted into the film. The six minutes of outtakes consist mostly of flubbed lines with F-bombs in place of the correct dialogue.

Whedon’s directors’ commentary is hard to concentrate on. Someone at the DVD mastering facility should have turned down the volume more on the film when Whedon was talking.

Three mini-docs were made for the disc: “Future History: The Story of Earth that Was” has Whedon talking about creating a mythology set 500 years in Earth’s future; “What’s in a Firefly” covers the special and visual effects; and “Re-lighting the Firefly” outlines the transition from cancelled TV show to feature film, with a look at the fans.

“Serenity” isn’t for everyone; some may be put off by its quirky sensibilities. I enjoyed it immensely. It was an anti-Star Trek. It was set in space, but it had no aliens. And I like my universe shaken up every now and then.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go pick up the DVD set of the TV series. I think I’ll like that one, too.